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Faith and Order

Paper No. 181

The Nature
and Purpose
of the Church

A stage on the way
to a common statement

Faith and Order Paper No. 181

November 1998

Cover design: Edwin Hassink

ISBN 2-8254-1302-X

Printed in November 1998

by Orthdruk Orthodox Printing House, Bialystok, Poland

Contents

Introduction

I. The Church of the Triune God

A. The Nature of the Church

B. Gods Purpose for the Church

II. The Church in History

A. The Church in via

B. Sign and Instrument of Gods Design

III. The Church as Koinonia (Communion)

A. Communion real, but not fully realised

B. Communion and Diversity

C. The Church as a Communion of Local Churches

IV. Life in Communion

A. Apostolic Faith

B. Baptism

C. Eucharist

D. Ministry

E. Oversight: Communal/Personal/Collegial

F. Conciliarity (Communality, Synodality) and Primacy

V. Service in and for the World

VI. Following our Calling: From Converging Understandings
to Mutual Recognition

Introduction

Background

1 . Since its beginning, and especially at the First World Conference,
Lausanne, Switzerland, 1 927, the Faith and Order Movement identi-
fied the unity of the Church as the very reason for its existence. Thus
the By-Laws of the Faith and Order Commission state that its aim is:

to proclaim the oneness of the Church of Jesus Christ and to call
the churches to the goal of visible unity in one faith and one
eucharistic fellowship, expressed in worship and in common life
in Christ, in order that the world may believe.

Since Amsterdam, 1 948, this goal has been at the heart of the common
calling of the World Council of Churches itself. Moreover, in all the
Assemblies of the World Council of Churches, the particular contribu-
tion of Faith and Order has been to deepen a common understanding
of this goal and of the ways to realise it. The most recent contribution is
focused in the statement of the Canberra Assembly - “The Church as
Koinonia : Gift and Calling”. The statement shows that koinonia is both
the foundation and the way of living a life together in visible unity.
This was echoed in the theme of the Fifth World Conference on Faith
and Order, Towards Koinonia in Faith, Life and Witness. The present
process on Towards a Common Understanding and Vision of the WCC
again underlines the common calling of the churches as the search for
visible unity.

2. All the major documents issued by Faith and Order contribute in
some way or other to the understanding of the nature and purpose of
the Church. Moreover, Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, Confessing the
One Faith and Church and World, sent to the churches for response and

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

reception, are ways of keeping alive in the churches the imperative of
Christs call to visible unity and the essential characteristics of that unity.
In the last decade work on ecclesiology and ethics, which continued the
studies on, for example, racism and the community of women and men
in the Church, has contributed to the understanding of our common
Christian calling in the service of humanity and creation. In its turn
Faith and Order receives constantly insights about the unity to which
God calls us from responses of the churches to its studies, the results of
the bilateral dialogues, the work in other areas of the World Council of
Churches and from reflection on the experience of the United and
Uniting Churches.

This Study

3. A study on the nature and purpose of the Church was strongly
recommended by the Fifth World Conference on Faith and Order in
Santiago de Compostela, Spain (1993). This was a timely call for many
reasons:

° the time is right for Faith and Order to reflect on the different
insights which its own studies offer to an understanding of the na-
ture and purpose of the Church;

° the opportunity is there for Faith and Order to draw upon the fruits
of the work of other parts of the WCC and of the bilateral theologi-
cal agreements;

° growth in fellowship is being experienced between Christians at
local, national and world levels, not least of all in the experience of
united and uniting churches;

° particular challenges in many regions call out for Christians to-
gether to address what it means to be Church in that place;

° the situation of the world demands and deserves a credible witness
to unity in diversity which is Gods gift for the whole of humanity.

Introduction

Purpose and Method

4. The main purpose of this study is to give expression to what the
churches can now say together about the nature and purpose of the Church
and within that perspective to state the remaining areas of disagreement.
Thus, in the style of BEM, this document seeks to evolve into what could
be called a convergence text. The present text is a first attempt to state
that convergence. It is offered for study and discernment.

5. The main text represents common perspectives which can be
claimed largely as a result of the work of the bilateral and multilateral
discussions of the past fifty years. The material inside the boxes ex-
plores areas where differences remain both within and between churches.
Some of these differences may come to be seen as expressions of legiti-
mate diversity, others as church-dividing. While the main text invites
the churches to discover or rediscover how much they in fact have in
common in their understanding of the Church, the text in the boxes
offers the opportunity for churches to reflect on the extent to which
their divergences are church-dividing. In the perspective of growing
convergences, the hope is that churches will be helped to recognise in
one another the Church of Jesus Christ and be encouraged to take steps
on the way towards visible unity.

6. Any ecumenical document raises the question of how Scripture is
used. The agreements of this text are based upon a common under-
standing of the unique and normative revelation of the Scripture and
thus the need to ground our agreement in the witness of Holy Scrip-
ture. At the same time it is recognised that in the Holy Scripture there
is no systematic ecclesiology. The theme of the Church is largely pre-
sented through a variety of images which interact and complement each
other. The approach of the present text is to take Scripture as a whole,
in such a way that one part of Scripture interprets the other and is
interpreted by the others.*

* Response to a preliminary distibution of the present text has indicated dissatisfaction with the
approach to Scripture described in this paragraph. More work is clearly required in the next stages
towards a convergence text, in the way in which Scripture is cited and interpreted.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

The Invitation

7. The Faith and Order Commission invites churches, commissions,
colleges, institutes, and individuals to reflect on the text in the light of
the following questions:

° how far can you recognize in this text an emerging convergence on
the nature and purpose of the Church?

° what areas in particular do you consider need further work and
what insights can you offer to progress that work?

° what other areas need to be treated in a convergence document on
the nature and purpose of the Church?

° if you can recognize in this text an emerging convergence on the
nature and purpose of the Church, what implications has this for
your relation with other churches who may also recognize that con-
vergence? What steps might your churches take even now towards
mutual recognition?

Responses will be essential as Faith and Order continues its work to
develop a common agreed statement on the nature and purpose of the
Church.

8. In Gods design the Church exists, not for itself alone, but to
serve in Gods work of reconciliation and for the praise and glory of
God. The more the Church understands its own nature, the more it
gets hold of its own vocation. Hence the crucial importance of this
study on the nature and the purpose of the Church.

The Church of the Triune God

A. The Nature of the Church

(i) The Church as Creation of the Word and of the Holy Spirit
( creatura Verbi et creatura Spiritus)

9. The Church belongs to God. It is the creation of Gods Word and
Holy Spirit. It cannot exist by and for itself.

10. The Church is centred and grounded in the Gospel, the Word of
God. The Church is the communion of those who live in a personal
relationship with God who speaks to them and calls forth their trustful
response - the communion of the faithful. Thus the Church is the crea-
ture of Gods Word which as a living voice creates and nourishes it
throughout the ages. This divine Word is borne witness to and makes
itself heard through the scriptures. Incarnate in Jesus Christ, it is testi-
fied to by the Church and proclaimed in preaching, in sacraments, and
in service.

11. Faith called forth by the Word of God is brought about by the
action of the Holy Spirit. In the scriptures, the Word of God and the
Holy Spirit are inseparable. As the communion of the faithful, the
Church therefore is also the creation of the Holy Spirit {creatura Spiri -
tus ). As in the life of Christ the Holy Spirit was active from the concep-
tion to the resurrection, so also in the life of the Church the same Spirit
of God forms Christ in all believers and their community. The Spirit
incorporates human beings into the body of Christ through faith and
baptism, enlivens and strengthens them as the body of Christ nour-
ished and sustained at the Lords Supper, and leads them to the full
accomplishment of their vocation.

12. Being the creature of Gods own Word and Spirit the Church of
God is one, holy, catholic and apostolic. These essential attributes of

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

the Church are not its own qualities but are fully rooted in its depen-
dence upon God through his Word and Spirit. It is one because the
God who binds it to himself by Word and Spirit is the one creator and
redeemer making the Church a foretaste and instrument for the re-
demption of all created reality. It is holy because God is the holy one
who in Jesus Christ has overcome all unholiness, sanctifying the Church
by his word of forgiveness in the Holy Spirit and making it his own, the
body of Christ. It is catholic because God is the fulness of life who
through Word and Spirit makes the Church the place and instrument
of his saving, life-giving, fulfilling presence wherever it is, thereby offer-
ing the fullness of the revealed Word, all the means of salvation to people
of every nation, race, class, sex and culture. It is apostolic because the
Word of God that creates and sustains the Church is the Gospel prima-
rily and normatively borne witness to by the apostles, making the com-
munion of the faithful a community that lives in, and is responsible for,
the succession of the apostolic truth throughout the ages.

1 3 . The Church is not the sum of individual believers in communion
with God. It is not primarily a communion of believers with each other.
It is their common partaking in Gods own life whose innermost being
is communion. Thus it is a divine and human reality.

The Church of the Triune God

The Institutional Dimension of the Church and the Work of the

Holy Spirit

All churches agree that God creates the Church and hinds it to himself
through the Holy Spirit by means of the living voice of the Gospel pro-
claimed in preaching and in the sacraments. Yet they have different
opinions as to:

(1) whether the preaching and the sacraments are the means of or sim-
ply witnesses to, the activity of the Spirit through the divine Word which
comes about in an immediate internal action upon the hearts of the
believers;

(2) the institutional implications and presuppositions of the Church's being
creatura Verbi: for some the ordained ministry, particularly episcopacy,
is the effective means, for some even the guarantee of the presence of truth
and power of the Word and Spirit of God in the Church; for others the
fact that the ordained ministry as well as the witness of all believers are
subject to error and sin excludes such a judgment, the power and reliabil-
ity of God's truth being grounded in the sovereignty of his Word and
Spirit which works through, but if necessary also counter to, the given
institutional structures of the Church;

(3) the theological importance of institutional continuity, particularly
continuity in episcopacy: whereas for some churches such institutional
continuity is the necessary means and guarantee of the Church's conti-
nuity in apostolic faith, for others continuity in apostolic faith under
certain circumstances is being kept in spite of, and even through, the
break of institutional continuity. It remains for future theological work
to find out whether these differences are real disagreements or mere dif-
ferences in emphasis that can be reconciled with each other.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

(ii) Images of the Church

14. The Almighty God, who calls the Church into being and unites
it to himself through his Word and the Holy Spirit, is the Triune God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In its relationship to God the Church is
related to each of these divine “Persons” in a particular way. These par-
ticular relations signify different dimensions of the Church’s life.

15. In the Holy Scripture there is no systematic ecclesiology. The theme
of the Church is largely dealt with by way of various images. Some are
images of stability and locality, some of mobility, some are more or-
ganic images, some stress the relational character of the Church. These
are not mutually exclusive. They interact, and quite often they support
and comment on each others weaker and stronger aspects. The ap-
proach of the present text in dealing with these images is to take the
Scriptures as a whole, in such a way that no image is taken as an isolated
point of reference, but each interprets the other and is interpreted by
the others (cf. note at para. 6 above).

16. Among scriptural images of the Church, some became particu-
larly prominent, referring to the Trinitarian dimensions of the Church.
Among these, the images of the “people of God” and the “body of Christ”
are particularly important, accompanied by the imagery of “temple” or
“house” of the Spirit. It must be noted, however, that none of these
images is exclusive but all of them implicitly or explicitly include the
other Trinitarian dimensions as well.

(a) Church as People of God

17. In the calling of Abraham, God was choosing for himself a holy
people. The recalling of this election and vocation found frequent ex-
pression in the words of the prophets: “I will be their God and they
shall be my people” (Jer 3 1 :33; Ez 37:27; Hos 2:23, echoed in 2 Cor
6:16; Heb 8:10). Through the Word {dab bar) of God and the Spirit
( ruah ) of God, God chose and formed one from among the nations to
bring salvation to all. The election of Israel marked a decisive moment

The Church of the Triune God

in the realization of the plan of salvation. This covenant entails many
things, including a calling to justice and truth. But it is also a gracious
gift of koinonia , a dynamic impulse to communion which is evident
throughout the story of the people of Israel, even when the community
breaks koinonia. In the light of the ministry, teaching, and above all the
death and resurrection of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost, the Christian community believes that God sent his Son to
bring the possibility of communion for each person with others and
with God, thus manifesting the gift of God for the whole world.

18. In the Old Testament, the people of Israel is a pilgrim people
journeying towards the fulfilment of the promise that in Abraham all
the nations of the earth shall be blessed. In Christ this is fulfilled when,
on the cross, the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile is broken down
(Eph 2:14). Thus the Church, embracing Jew and Gentile is a “chosen
race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”, “Gods own people” (1 Peter
2:9-10). The Church of God continues the way of pilgrimage to the
eternal rest prepared for it (Heb 4:9-1 1). It is a prophetic sign of the
fulfilment God will bring about through Christ by the power of the
Spirit.

(b) Church as Body of Christ

1 9. Through the blood of Christ, Gods purpose was to reconcile hu-
manity in one body through the cross (Eph 2: 1 1-22). This body is the
body of Christ, the Church (Eph 1:23). Christ is the abiding head of
this body and at the same time the one who, by the presence of the
Spirit, gives life to it. In this way, Christ who is head of his body, em-
powering, leading and judging it (Eph 5:23; Col 1:18), is also one with
his body (1 Cor 12:12; Rom 12:5). The image of the Body of Christ in
the New Testament includes these two dimensions, one expressed in
1 Corinthians and Romans, the other developed in Ephesians.

20. It is through faith and baptism that human beings become mem-
bers of the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13). Through Holy Communion
their participation and communion in this body is renewed again and

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

again (1 Cor 10:16). Being thus members of his body, Christians
identify with the unique priesthood of Christ (Heb 9), and are called
to live as faithful members: “You are the holy priesthood” (1 Peter
2:9). In Christ who offered himself, Christians offer their whole be-
ing “as a living sacrifice” (Rom 12:1). Every member participates in
the priesthood of the whole Church. No one exercises that priest-
hood apart from the unique priesthood of Christ, nor in isolation
from the other members of the body.

21. All members of Christ are given gifts for the building up of the
body (Rom 12:4-8; 1 Cor 12:4-30), the diversity and specific nature of
which serve the Church’s own life and its vocation as servant, for the
furthering of God’s kingdom in the world.

22. According to the New Testament, it is through the Holy Spirit
that human beings are baptized into the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:13).
It is the same Holy Spirit who confers the manifold gifts to the mem-
bers of the body (1 Cor 12:4, 7-11) and brings forth their unity (1 Cor
12). Thus the image of “body of Christ”, though explicitly and prima-
rily referring to the christological dimension of the Church, at the same
time has deep pneumatological implications.

23. Reference to the constitutive relation between Church and Holy
Spirit runs through the whole New Testament witness. Nevertheless
there is no explicit image for this relation. The imagery that comes
particularly close to the figurative descriptions of this relation entailed
in the New Testament, and renders it in a particularly appropriate way,
is the imagery of “temple” and “house”. This is so because the relation
of the Spirit to the Church is one of indwelling, of giving life from
within.

24. Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets the Church
is God’s household, a holy temple in which God lives by the Spirit. By
the power of the Holy Spirit believers grow into “a holy temple in the
Lord” (Eph 2:21), into a “spiritual house” (1 Peter 2:3). Filled with the

The Church of the Triune God

Holy Spirit, they pray, love, work and serve in the power of the Spirit,
leading a life worthy of their calling, eager to maintain the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace (Eph 4:1-3).

25. These three images have been chosen because of their central im-
portance in the New Testament and because of their significance for
the Trinitarian dimensions of the Church. Yet it should be mentioned
that there are other images of the Church in the New Testament - most
of them christological - like vine, flock, wedding party, bride. They all
serve to highlight certain aspects of the Church’s being and life: the
vine-image stresses its total dependence on Christ, the flock-image
stresses its trust and obedience, the party-image stresses the eschatological
reality of the Church, the bride-image stresses the intimate though sub-
ordinate relation of the Church to Christ. At the same time these im-
ages - like all images, also those listed in (a) to (c) — have their limits:
the vine image does not take into account the vis-a-vis relation between
Christ and the Church; the flock-image does not take into account the
freedom of the believers; the party image does not take into account the
not-yet-fulfilled dimension of the Church’s life in via; the bride-image
presupposes the subordinate status of women in ancient times.

B. God’s Purpose for the Church

26. It is God’s design to gather all creation under the Lordship of
Christ (Eph 1:10), and to bring humanity and all creation into com-
munion. As a reflection of the communion in the Triune God, the
Church is called by God to be the instrument in fulfilling this goal. The
Church is called to manifest God’s mercifulness to humanity, and to
restore humanity’s natural purpose - to praise and glorify God together
with all the heavenly hosts. As such it is not an end in itself, but a gift
given to the world in order that all may believe (John 17:21).

27. Mission belongs to the very being of the Church. As persons who
acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, Christians are called to
proclaim the Gospel in word and deed. They are to address those who
have not heard as well as to those who are no longer in living contact
with the Gospel, the Good News of the reign of God. They are called to

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

live its values and to be a foretaste of that reign in the world.

28. Thus the Church, embodying in its own life the mystery of salva-
tion and the transfiguration of humanity, participates in the mission of
Christ to reconcile all things to God and to one another through Christ.
Through its ministry of service and proclamation and its stewardship
of creation, the Church participates in and points to the reality of the
Kingdom of God. In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church testifies
to the divine mission in which the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour
of the world.

29. In exercising its mission, the Church cannot be the Church without
giving witness ( martyria ) to Gods will for the salvation and transforma-
tion of the world. That is why it started at once preaching the Word
and bearing witness to the great deeds of God and inviting everyone to
baptism.

30. As Christs mission encompassed the preaching of the Word of
God and the commitment to care for those suffering and in need, thus
the apostolic Church in its mission from the beginning combined
preaching of the Word, the call to baptism and service. This the Church
understands as an essential dimension of its identity. The Church in
this way signifies, participates in, and anticipates the new humanity
God wants, and also serves to proclaim Gods grace in human situa-
tions and needs until Christ comes in glory (Mt 25:31).

3 1 • Because the servanthood of Christ entails suffering, it is evident,
as expressed in the New Testament writings, that the martyria of the
Church will entail, for individuals and for the community, the way of
the cross.

32. The Church is called and empowered to share the suffering of all
by advocacy and care for the poor, needy and marginalised. It does this
by critically analysing and exposing unjust structures and by working
for their transformation. It does this by its works of compassion and
mercy. Thus the Church is called to heal and reconcile broken human

The Church of the Triune God

relationships. The Church is to be Gods instrument in the eradica-
tion of enmity, the reconciliation of human division and hatred, which
is the main source of human suffering. It is also called, together with
all people of goodwill, to care for the integrity of creation in con-
demning as sinful the abuse and destruction of Gods creation, and to
participate in Gods healing of broken relationships between creation
and humanity.

33. In the power of the Holy Spirit, the Church is called to pro-
claim faithfully the whole teaching of Christ and to share the totality
of apostolic faith, life and witness with everyone throughout the en-
tire world. Thus, the Church seeks faithfully to proclaim and live the
love of God for all, and fulfil Christs mission for the salvation and
transformation of the world to the glory of God.

34. God restores and enriches communion with humanity, grant-
ing eternal life in Gods Triune being. Through humanity, the whole
world is meant to be drawn to the goal of restoration and salvation.
This divine plan reaches its fulfilment in the new heaven and the new
earth (Rev 21:1) in Gods holy Kingdom.

II.

The Church in History

A. The Church in via

35. The Church is an eschatological reality, already anticipating
the Kingdom. The Church is also a historical reality, exposed to the
ambiguity of all human history and thus not yet the community
God desires.

36. On the one hand, the Church is that part of humanity which
already participates in the communion of God, in faith, hope, and
glorification of Gods name, and lives as a communion of redeemed
persons. Because of the presence of the eschatological Spirit and of
the Word of God, the Church - as creatura Verbi and Spiritus (cf.
paras 9ffi), as the communion of all believers held in personal rela-
tionship with God by God himself (cf para. 10), as the people of God
(cf. paras 17-18), as the body of Christ (cf. paras 19-22), as the temple
of the Holy Spirit (cf. paras 23-24) - is already the eschatological
community God wills.

37. Yet at the same time the Church in its human dimension, insofar
as it is made up of human beings who though being members of the
body of Christ are still subject to the conditions of this world, is itself
affected by these conditions. It is exposed to change, which allows for
both positive development and growth as well as for the negative possi-
bility of decline and distortion. It is exposed to individual, cultural and
historical conditioning which can contribute to a richness of insights
and expressions of faith but also to relativizing tendencies or absolutizing
particular views. It is exposed to the Holy Spirits free use of its power
(Jn 3:8) in illuminating hearts and binding consciences. It is exposed to
the power of sin.

38. The oneness which belongs to the very nature of the Church and
is already given to it in Jesus Christ stands in contrast to the actual
divisions between the churches. These divisions, which are partly due
to sin, but also due to the dilemma inherent in history that in certain

The Church in History

situations the integrity of truth may be upheld only in contradiction
to other positions, are an anomalous fact. The churches have to strive
to overcome them. Yet in spite of all divisions the unity given to the
Church is already manifest in the Gospel present in all churches and
appears in many features of their lives. Working for the unity of the
Church means working for fuller visible embodiment of the oneness
already given to it.

39. The essential holiness of the Church stands in contrast to sin,
individual as well as communal, which in the course of the Church’s
history again and again has disfigured its witness and run counter to its
true nature and vocation. Therefore in the Church there has been again
and again God’s ever new offer of forgiveness together with the call for
repentance, renewal and reform. Responding to this call means fuller
visible embodiment of the holiness that belongs to its nature and is
already given to it.

40. The essential catholicity of the Church is confronted with a frag-
mentation of its life, a contradictory preaching of the truth. The conse-
quence is that the integrity of the Gospel is not adequately preached to
all; the wholeness of the divine means of salvation is not available to all;
the fullness of communion is not offered to all; the Gospel is not received
the same way in “all the nations”. Nevertheless, the Spirit it receives at
baptism is the Spirit of the Lordship of Christ over all creation and all
times. The Church is called to remove all obstacles to the full develop-
ment of what it already is by the power of the Holy Spirit.

41. The essential apostolicity of the Church stands in contrast to
shortcomings and errors of the churches in their proclamation of the
Word of God. Hence the churches are called to return continuously to
the apostolic truth and to their apostolic origin. By doing so they make
visible and do justice to the apostolic Gospel which is already given to
them and at work in them in the Spirit and which makes them Church.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

The Church and Sin

All churches agree that there is sin — individual as well as corporate - in
the Church's history. They also agree that sin cannot affect the Church as
a divine reality ; whereas sin can affect the human reality and structures
of the Church. Yet they differ in where they see the Church's divine
reality, and thus in their understanding of the way the Church is af-
fected by sin.

For some it is impossible to say “the Church sins" because they see the
Church as a gift of God, and as such marked by God's holiness. The
Church is the spotless Bride of Christ (Eph 5:25-27); it is the children
of God who received God's incarnate Word through faith; it is the Holy
People of God, “justified by the faith of Christ"; as such, the Church
cannot sin, “lest Christ be the minister of sin" ( Gal 2:17). This gift of
the Church is lived out in fragile human beings who are liable to sin,
but the sin of the members of the Church are not sins of the Church.
The Church is rather the locus of salvation and healing, and not the
subject of sin.

Others, while they too state that the Church as the creature of God's
Word and Spirit, the body of Christ, etc., is holy and without sin, at the
same time say that it does sin, because they define the Church as the
communion of its members, who at the same time as being believers
created by the Spirit and Christ's own body, in this world are still sinful
beings.

Thus some hold that one cannot speak of the sin of the Church, but one
can and must speak of the sin of the members and groups within the
Church, a situation described by the parable of the wheat and the chaff,
and by the Augustinian formula 0/corpus permixtum. For others, sin
in the Church can become systemic and also affect the institution. Some
teach that it is impossible to single out individual points and items in
the Church's life which can be affected by sin and others which cannot.

The Church in History

but that this problem can only be tackled in a dialectical way: the
Church itself is sinful insofar as it is a communion of those who al-
though sanctified by God are never without sin , but it is holy insofar as
it is called into being and kept in communion with God through his
holy Word and the Holy Spirit.

B. Sign and Instrument of Gods Design

42. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church is the sign and instru-
ment of Gods design for the whole world. Being that part of humanity
which already participates in the love and communion of God the Church
is a prophetic sign which points beyond itself to the purpose of all cre-
ation, the fulfilment of the kingdom of God.

43. Aware of Gods saving presence in the world, the Church already
praises and glorifies the Triune God through its worship and its dis-
cipleship and serves Gods design. Yet the Church does so not only for
itself, but it renders praise and thanks for Gods grace and the forgive-
ness of sins on behalf of all creatures, and it serves Gods design for the
sake of all creation.

44. To speak of the Church as sign also entails the dimension of
(<mysterion \ indicating the transcendence of its God-given reality as the
one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church which can never be clearly and
unequivocally grasped in its visible appearance. Therefore the visible
organizational structures of the Church must always be seen in the light
of Gods gifts of salvation in Christ.

45. Being that part of humanity which already participates in the love
and communion of God, at the same time the Church is the instrument
through which God wants to bring about what is signified by it: the
salvation of the whole world, the renewal of the human community by

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

the divine Word and the Holy Spirit, the communion of humanity
with God and within itself.

46. As instrument of Gods design the Church is the community of
people called by God and sent as Christs disciples to proclaim the Good
News in word and deed that the world may believe. Thus it makes
present throughout history the mercifulness of God.

47. Sent as his disciples the people of God has to witness to and
participate in Gods reconciliation, healing, and transformation of
creation. The Church’s relation to Christ entails that faith and com-
munity require discipleship. The integrity of the mission of the
Church, of its very being as God’s instrument therefore is at stake in
witness through proclamation and concrete actions with all people
of goodwill for justice, peace, and integrity of creation.

The Church in History

Church and “Sacrament”

The reality of the Church as sign and instrument of God's design is
summed up by several churches in the expression : the Church as sacra-
ment.

Those churches who use the formula “ Church as sacrament ” do so
because they see the Church primarily as a pointer to what God wants
for the world, namely the communion of all together and with him, the
happiness for which he created the world.

Other churches do not apply the concept of sacrament to the Church,
giving the following two main reasons: (a) there should be a clear
distinction between Church and sacraments. The latter are means of
salvation through which Christ sustains the Church, notactions by which
the Church realizes or actualizes itself; and (b) using the term “sacra-
ment'for the Church might obscure the fact that, for them, the Church
is sign and instrument of God's design as the communion of Christians
who, though being redeemed believers, are still liable to sin.

Over and above the different approaches to the “Church as sacrament ”
expression, there are differing views on what sacraments are in the first
place. For some of the churches, sacraments are the “visible sign of the
invisible grace of God''. They are “effective signs ” which signify and
convey the grace of God. They are signs of God's promise. For others,
“sacraments” are the opportunity for God's grace, utilized by God as an
occasion to give his grace.

III.

The Church As Koinonla (Communion)

A. Communion, real but not fully realized

48. The notion of koinonia (communion) has become fundamental
for revitalizing a common understanding of the nature of the Church
and its visible unity. The term koinonia (communion, participation) is
used in the New Testament, patristic and Reformation writings in rela-
tion to the Church. Although in later centuries the term remained in
use, it is being reclaimed today in the ecumenical movement as a key to
understanding the nature and the purpose of the Church. Due to its
richness of meaning, it is also a convenient notion for assessing the
degree of communion in various forms already achieved among Chris-
tians within the ecumenical movement.

49- The relationship between God and humanity and the whole of
creation is a fundamental theme of Holy Scripture. In the narrative of
creation, man and woman are created in Gods image, bearing an inher-
ent longing and capacity for communion with God, with one another
and with creation as its stewards. Thus, the whole of creation has its
integrity in koinonia with God. Communion is rooted in the order of
creation itself, and is realized in part in natural relationships of family
and kinship, of tribe and people. The Old Testament displays the spe-
cial relationship, the covenant, established by God, between God and
the chosen people (cf. Ex 19:4-6; Hos 2:18-23).

30. Gods purpose in creation is distorted by human sin, failure and
disobedience to Gods will and rebellion against him. Human sin dam-
ages the relationship between God and humanity, between human be-
ings, and between humanity and the created order. But God persists in
faithfulness despite the sin and error of the people. The dynamic his-
tory of Gods restoring and enriching koinonia with creation reaches its
culmination and fulfilment in the perfect communion of a new heaven
and a new earth (Rev 21).

The Church as Koinonia

51. A variety of biblical images evoke the nature and quality of the
relationship of Gods people to God and to one another and to the
created order: “the people of God” (1 Peter 2:9-10); “the flock” (Jn
10:14); “the vine” (Is 5, Jn 15); “the temple of the Lord” (1 Cor 3:16-
17); “the bride of Christ” (Rev 21 :2; Eph 5:25-32); “the body of Christ”
(1 Cor 12:27); “the household of God” (Heb 3:1-6); “the new covenant
community” (Heb 3:8-10); “the city of God - the new Jerusalem” (Is
61; Rev 21). The term koinonia expresses the reality to which these
images refer. They evoke the depth, closeness and"quality of the rela-
tionship. In the Old Testament the term shalom captures something of
the notion of koinonia .

52 . The basic verbal form from which the noun koinonia derives means
“to have something in common”, “to share”, “to participate”, “to have
part in”, “to act together” or “to be in a contractual relationship involv-
ing obligations of mutual accountability”. The word koinonia appears
in key situations, for example, the reconciliation of Paul with Peter,
James and John (Gal 2:9), the collection for the poor (Rom 15:26; 2
Cor 8:4), the experience and witness of the Church (Acts 2:42-45).

53 . Through identification with the death and resurrection of Christ,
by the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians enter into fellowship
{koinonia) with God and with one another in the life and love of God:
“We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard so that you may
have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with
his Son Jesus Christ” (1 Jn 1:3).

54. The Good News is the offer to all people of the free gift of being
born into the life of communion with God and thus with one another.
St Paul speaks of the relationship of believers to their Lord as being “in
Christ” (2 Cor 5:17) and of Christ being in the believer, through the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Communion is the gift of God whereby
God draws humanity into the orbit of the generous, divine, self giving
love which flows between the persons of the Holy Trinity.

55. It is only by virtue of Gods gift of grace through Jesus Christ that
deep, lasting communion is made possible; by faith and baptism, persons

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

participate in the mystery of Christs death, burial and resurrection. United
to Christ, through the Holy Spirit, they are thus joined to all who are “in
Christ”: they belong to the new communion - the new community - of
the risen Lord. Because koinonia is also a participation in Christ cruci-
fied, it is also part of the nature of the Church and the mission of the
Church to share in the sufferings and struggles of humankind.

56. Visible and tangible signs of the new life of communion are ex-
pressed in receiving and sharing the faith of the apostles; breaking and
sharing the eucharistic bread; praying with, and for, one another and
for the needs of the world; serving one another in love; participating in
each others joys and sorrows; giving material aid; proclaiming and wit-
nessing to the good news in mission; working together for justice and
peace. The communion of the Church is made up of persons in com-
munity, not as independent individuals. All contribute to the flourish-
ing of the communion.

57. It is the will of God that the whole creation, not only the Church
but all, should realize communion in Christ (Eph 1:10, 4:1-16). The
Church, as communion, is instrumental to Gods ultimate purpose. It
exists for the glory of God to serve in obedience to the mission of Christ,
the reconciliation of humankind.

58. The divisions among the churches and the failure of their mem-
bers to live in true koinonia , full koinonia with one another, affect and
hinder the mission of the Church. Mission has as its ultimate goal the
koinonia of all. The mission belongs to the essence of the nature and
being of the Church as koinonia. This makes the restoration of unity
between Christians and the renewal of their lives an urgent task.

59. By the power of the Holy Spirit the Church lives in communion
with Christ Jesus, in whom all in heaven and earth are joined in the
communion of God the Holy One: this is the communion of saints.
The final destiny of the Church is to be caught up in the intimate rela-
tion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, to praise and to enjoy God for ever.

The Church as Koinonia

60. There remains by virtue of creation a natural bond between
human beings and between humanity and creation. The new life of
communion builds upon and transforms, but never wholly replaces
communion given in creation, and it never within history completely
overcomes the distortions of the relationship between human beings
caused by sin. The old difficulties recur. The gift of communion in
Christ is often restricted or only partially realized. The new life entails
the constant need for repentance, mutual forgiveness and restoration.
It belongs to the essence of fellowship with God that there should be
continual confession of sin (1 Jn 1:7). Nonetheless, there is a genuine
enjoyment of new life here and now and a confident anticipation of
sharing in the fullness of communion in the life to come.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Koinonia

The notion of\ coinonia is being used today by many churches and in
ecumenical texts as a major idea towards a common understanding of
the nature and purpose of the Church. The question is being asked
whether this notion is being called to bear more weight than it is able to
carry.

The notion o/Tcoinonia allows separated Christians to recognize that
they already share a profound degree of communion, grounded in their
participation together in the life and love of God, Father, Son and Holy
Spirit. The path to unity is to make that communion ever more visible.
Is there a shared understanding of the language of visible communion,
“fuller communion*, “full communion*, “perfect communion* etc. and
what sense is to be made of the notions of “restricted communion ”, “par-
tial communion ”, “impaired communion”?

As long as Christians have different ideas of what constitutes visible
unity, koinonia (communion), cannot be fully realized and efforts to
reach a common understanding will have to continue.

B. Communion and Diversity

61. Diversity in unity and unity in diversity are gifts of God to the
Church. Through the Holy Spirit God bestows diverse and comple-
mentary gifts on all the faithful for the common good, for service within
the community and to the world (1 Cor 12:7 and 2 Cor 9:13). No one
is self-sufficient. The disciples are called to be one, while enriched by
their diversities - fully united, while respectful of the diversity of per-
sons and community groups.

62. There is a rich diversity of Christian life and witness born out of
the diversity of cultural and historical context. The Gospel has to take
flesh authentically in each and every place. The faith has to be proclaimed

The Church as Koinonia

in language, symbols and images that engage with and are relevant to
particular times and particular contexts. The communion of the Church
demands the constant interplay of cultural expressions of the Gospel if
the riches of the Gospel are to be appreciated for the whole people of
God.

63. Authentic diversity in the life of communion must not be stifled:
authentic unity must not be surrendered for illegitimate diversity. Each
local church must be the place where two things are simultaneously
guaranteed: the safeguarding of unity and the flourishing of a legiti-
mate diversity. There are limits within which diversity is an enrichment
and outside which it is not only unacceptable but destructive of the gift
of unity. Similarly, unity, particularly when it tends to be identified
with “uniformity”, can be destructive of authentic diversity and thus
becomes unacceptable. Through shared faith in Christ, expressed in
the proclamation of the Word, celebration of the sacraments and lives
of service and witness, each local Christian community participates in
the life and witness of all Christian communities in all places and all
times. A pastoral ministry for the service of unity and the upholding of
diversity is one of the many charisms given to the Church. It helps to
keep those with different gifts and perspectives mutually accountable
to each other within the communion.

64. Diversity is not the same as division. Within the Church divi-
sions (heresies, schisms, political conflicts, expressions of hatred, etc.)
threaten Gods gift of communion. Christians are called to work
untiringly to overcome divisions, to prevent legitimate diversities from
becoming causes of division, and to live a life of diversities reconciled.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Diversity

While all recognise the diversity of gifts for ministry bestowed on the
Church , there is often a tendency ; conscious or unconscious , to give
more value to some gifts over against others. This has a destructive
effect: the ordained ministry valued more highly than the gifts of lay
ministries; the gifts exercised within the Church valued more highly
than gifts exercised in secular contexts; oversight valued more highly
than other ministries , etc.

There is a number of problems concerning the relation between Gospel
and culture:

° when one culture seeks to capture the Gospel and claims to be the
one and only authentic way of celebrating the Gospel;

° when one culture seeks to impose its expression of the Gospel on
others as the only authentic expression of the Gospel;

° when the Gospel is held captive within a particular cultural
expression;

° when one culture finds it impossible to recognise the Gospel being
faithfully proclaimed in another culture.

Diversities in expression of the Gospel, in words and in actions, enrich
the common life. Particular emphases today are carried in the life and
witness of different churches: for example, the holiness tradition by the
Methodists, the doctrine of justification by faith alone through grace by
the Lutherans, the life in the Holy Spirit by the Pentecostals, the minis-
try of primacy in the service of unity by the Roman Catholic Church,
the value of comprehensiveness by the Anglican Communion, the doc-
trine of deification coupled with that of “synergy” by the Orthodox, etc.
How far are the different emphases conflicting positions or an expres-
sion of legitimate diversity ? Does the weight placed upon the different
emphases obscure the fulness of the Gospel message ?

The Church as Koinonia

What estimate do Christians place on ecclesial and confessional identity ?
For some the preservation of such identity at least for the foreseeable juture,
and even within a life of koinonia, is necessary for safeguarding particular
truths and rich legitimate diversities that belong to a life of communion.
Others understand the goal of visible communion as beyond particular
ecclesial or confessional identity — a communion in which the riches safe-
guarded by confessional traditions are brought together in the witness and
experience of a common faith and life. For others the model of “reconciled
diversity” remains a compelling one. Others fear a particular model of “struc-
tural merger” in which the diversity carried by different traditions is sup-
pressed by a rigid uniformity. Most. ; however, agree that an openness is
required about the unity to which God calls us and that as we move by
steps under the guidance of the Holy Spirit (cf.Jn 16:13) the portrait of
visible unity will become clearer.

Churches understand their relation to the one, holy, catholic and apos-
tolic Church in different ways. This has a bearing upon the way they
relate to other churches and their perception of the road to visible unity.

One of the pressing ecumenical questions is how churches at this stage of
the ecumenical movement can live in mutual accountability so that
they can sustain one another in unity and legitimate diversity and prevent
new issues from becoming causes of division within and between churches.

C. The Church as a Communion of Local Churches

65- From the beginning contact was maintained between local
churches by collections, exchange of letters, visits and tangible expres-
sions of solidarity (1 Cor 16; 2 Cor 8:1-9; Gal 2:9ff; etc.). From time to
time, in the first centuries of the common era, local churches assembled
to take counsel together. These were all ways of nurturing interdepen-
dence and maintaining communion.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

66. The communion of the Church is expressed in the communion
between local churches in each of which the fullness of the Church
resides. The communion of the Church embraces local churches in each
place and all places at all times. Local churches are held in the com-
munion of the Church by the one Gospel, the one baptism and the one
Holy Communion, served by a common ministry. This communion is
expressed in service and witness to the world.

67. The communion of local churches is sustained by a fundamental
coherence and consonance in the living elements of apostolicity and
catholicity: the Scriptures, baptism, eucharist and the service of a com-
mon ministry. As “bonds of communion” these gifts serve the authen-
tic continuity of the life of the whole Church and help to sustain the
local churches in a communion of truth and love. They are given to
maintain the Church in integrity as the one Church of Jesus Christ, the
same yesterday, today and tomorrow. The goal of the search for full
communion is realized when all the churches are able to recognize in
one another the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church in all its full-
ness. This full communion will be expressed on the local and universal
levels through conciliar forms of life and action. In such a communion
of unity and authentic diversities, churches are bound in all aspects of
their life together at all levels in confessing the one faith, and engaging
in worship and witness, deliberation and action.

The Church as Koinonia

Local Church

The term “local church” is used differently by different traditions. For
some traditions the “local” church is the local congregation of believers
gathered in one place to hear the Word and celebrate the sacraments.
For others , “local” or “particular” church refers to the bishop with the
people around the bishop , gathered to hear the Word and celebrate the
sacraments. At another level, “local church” can refer to several dioceses,
each with its bishop, gathered together in a synodal structure under the
presidency of an archbishop, a metropolitan or a patriarch. This is the
technical meaning of “local church” for the Orthodox in particular.

Each local church is united to every other in the universal Church and
contains within it the fulness ofwhatitis to be Church. In some churches
local church is used of both the diocese and of the parish. There is often
a mismatch between theological description of local church and how the
local church is experienced by the faithful.

Churches differ according to where they perceive authority rests and
how decisions are taken. For example, in some traditions authority lies
primarily with the local church, in others it is focused in the worldwide
college of bishops presided over by a primate, in others it lies in regional
autocephalous churches, as well as on a global level through ecumenical
councils presided over by a primate. This for some implies a conciliar
consensus enlightened by the Holy Spirit as the only criterion of author-
ity. In yet other traditions, authority is dispersed and the province or a
regional unit is the level at which binding decisions are taken.

IV.

Life In Communion

68. The triune God is the source of the Church’s life, its unity and its
diversity. God gives to the Church all the gifts and resources needed for
its life and mission. God bestows on it the apostolic faith, baptism and
eucharist as means of grace to create and sustain the koinonia. To these
are related other means which serve to keep alive and preserve the in-
tegrity of koinonia of the people of God.

A. Apostolic Faith

69. The Church is called at all times and in all places to “continue in
the apostles’ teaching”. “The faith of the Church through the ages” is
one with “the faith once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude v. 3).

70. The apostolic faith is uniquely revealed by God in the Holy Scrip-
tures and set forth in the Ecumenical Creeds. The Church is called
upon to proclaim the same faith freshly and relevantly in each genera-
tion, in each and every place. Each church in its place is challenged in
the power of the Holy Spirit to make that faith relevant and alive in its
particular cultural, social, political and religious context. The apostolic
faith has to be interpreted in the context of changing times and places:
it must be in continuity with the original witness of the apostolic com-
munity and with the faithful explication of that witness throughout the
ages.

71. The apostolic faith does not refer to one fixed formula or to a
specific phase in Christian history. The apostolic faith is confessed in
worship, in life and service - in the living tradition of the Church. The
faith transmitted through the living tradition of the Church is the faith
evoked by the Word of God and inspired by the Holy Spirit, attested in
Holy Scripture. Its content is set forth in the Ecumenical Creeds of the
early Church and also testified to in other forms. It is proclaimed in
many confessions of the churches. It is preached throughout the world
today. This faith is nourished by and celebrated in liturgies and is mani-
fested in service and mission of faithful Christian communities.

Life in Communion

72. The apostolic tradition of the Church is the continuity in the
permanent characteristics of the Church of the apostles: witness to the
apostolic faith, proclamation and fresh interpretation of the Gospel,
celebration of baptism and the Lords Supper, the transmission of min-
isterial responsibilities, communion in prayer, love, joy and suffering,
service to the sick and needy, communion among the local churches
and sharing the gifts which the Lord has given to each.

73. Within the apostolic tradition the Ecumenical Symbol of Nicea-
Constantinople (381) is a pre-eminent expression of the apostolic faith
- a faith confessed everywhere, also by those who do not use this Sym-
bol. This Creed symbolises the faith uniquely revealed in Scriptures.
That same faith is expressed in the preaching, worship, sacraments, older
and newer confessional statements, in the life and mission of the Church,
in different cultural contexts and different ecclesial communions. The
language of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, like all creeds, is
conditioned by time and context. It remains the most used by Chris-
tians through the centuries and still today. Its use in confessing and
praising God is both an expression of continuity through time and of
communion with Christians around the world today. The non-use by
some churches of this Creed should not be interpreted as a sign of their
departure from the faith. In their own ways, they also confess the same
apostolic faith.

74. The faith of the Church has to be lived out in active response to
the challenges of every age and place. The Gospel speaks to personal
and social situations, including situations of injustice, of violation of
human dignity and of the degradation of creation. For example, when
Christians confess that God is creator of all, this entails a life attentive
to the goodness and preservation of creation. When Christians confess
the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, this leads to working for
the visible unity of the Church. Christians are called to proclaim the
Gospel in word and in deed to live in their lives the message of Christ
crucified and risen. Communion in faith expressed in word and life
embraces both a personal and corporate dimension.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Apostolic Faith

There are churches which use creeds regularly in worship , and those
which do not. They are challenged to recognize the same faith in one
another’s preaching worship , sacraments , life and mission.

The apostolic faith has to he proclaimed afresh in each generation in each
place. Churches differ as to what structures of conciliar communion would
serve to nurture the communion in faith in changing situations.

Churches today differ concerning what are the tolerable limits to diver-
sity in confessing the one faith. For instance , is it church -dividing:

° to understand the resurrection of Christ only symbolically ?

° to confess Christ only as one mediator among others ?

° to substitute the history of ancient Israel as recorded by the Old
Testament with the pre-Christian history of one’s own culture and people?

° to understand in different ways the contribution and responsibility
of the human writer in the composition of Scripture?

° to consider in different ways the procession of the Holy Spirit?

B. Baptism

75. In the Ecumenical Creed of Nicea-Constantinople, Christians
confess “one baptism for the remission of sins”. In the one baptism
with water in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, Christians are brought into union
with Christ, with each other and with the Church of every time and
place. Our common baptism, which unites us to Christ in faith, is thus
a basic bond of unity.

Life in Communion

76. Baptism is a sign of new life through Christ; the means of partici-
pating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Baptism en-
tails confession of sin, conversion of heart, pardoning, cleansing and
sanctification. Baptism is the gift of the Holy Spirit and the way of
incorporation into the Body of Christ: it is the sign of the Kingdom of
God and of the life of the world to come. Baptism is considered to be
the “ordination” of all believers.

77. All human beings have in common their creation at Gods hand,
Gods providential care for them, and they share in social, economic
and cultural institutions which preserve human life. As persons are
baptised, they “put on Christ” (Gal 3:27), they enter into the koinonia
of Christs Body (1 Cor 12:13), receive that share of the Holy Spirit
which is the privilege of Gods adopted children (Rom 8: 1 5f), and so
enjoy in anticipation that participation in the divine life which God
promises and purposes for humankind (2 Peter 1 :4). In the present, the
solidarity of Christians with the joys and sorrows of their neighbours,
their engagement in the struggle for the dignity of all who suffer, the
excluded, the poor, belongs to their baptismal vocation. It is the way
they are brought face to face with Christ in his identification with the
victimized and outcast.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Baptism

There remain differences between some Christian traditions on:

° the sacramental nature of baptism;

° the relation of baptism to faith;

° the action of the Holy Spirit;

° membership of the Church;

° infant baptism and baptism of those who can speak for themselves;
° the baptismal formula;

° the mode of baptism.

The recognition of the one baptism into Christ and the fundamental
bond of communion that baptism establishes raises urgent questions
concerning whether there should be mutual accountability, and how it
should be determined.

The recognition of the one baptism into Christ constitutes an urgent
call to the churches to overcome their divisions and visibly manifest
their communion in faith in all aspects of Christian life and witness.

The increasing willingness of Christians to recognise each other's
baptism calls into question the practice of so-called re-baptism. Baptism
is celebrated in the name of the Holy Trinity, and presupposes faith in
the Holy Trinity. Accordingly, baptism performed with water in the
name of, and with faith in, the Holy Trinity should be regarded by all
confessions as valid and unrepeatable.

There are communities /Christians who do not celebrate the rite of
baptism, yet share in the spiritual experience of life in Christ.

C. Eucharist

78. Baptism is very closely linked with the eucharist. Communion
established in baptism is focused and brought to expression in the one

Life in Communion

eucharist. There is a dynamic connection between baptism and
eucharist. Baptismal faith is re-affirmed and grace given for the faith-
ful living out of the Christian calling.

7 9 . Holy Communion is the meal where, gathered around the Lord s
table, Christians receive the body and blood of Christ. It is a thanksgiv-
ing to the Father for everything accomplished in creation, redemption
and sanctification; a memorial ( anamnesis ) of the death and resurrec-
tion of Christ Jesus and what was accomplished once for all on the
cross; the real presence of the crucified and risen Christ giving his life
for all humanity; the communion of the faithful and an anticipation
and foretaste of the Kingdom to come.

80. The confession of faith and baptism are inseparable from a life of
service and witness. So too the eucharistic celebration demands reconcili-
ation and sharing among all those regarded as brothers and sisters inlthe
one family of God and is a constant challenge in the search for appropri-
ate relationships in social, economic and political life (Mt 5:23ff; 1 Cor
10:14; 1 Cor 11:20-22). Because Holy Communion is the sacrament
which builds up community, all kinds of injustice, racism, estrangement,
and lack of freedom are radically challenged when we share in the body
and blood of Christ. Through the Lords Supper the all-renewing grace of
God penetrates and restores human personality and dignity. The eucharist
involves the believer in the central event of the worlds history. As partici-
pants in the eucharist, therefore, we prove inconsistent if we are not ac-
tively participating in the ongoing restoration of the worlds situation
and the human condition. Holy Communion shows us that our behaviour
is inconsistent in the face of the reconciling presence of God in human
history: we are placed under continued judgement by the persistence of
unjust relationships of all kinds in our society, manifold divisions on ac-
count of human pride, material interest and power politics and, above all,
the obstinacy of unjustifiable confessional oppositions within the body
of Christ.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Eucharist

Communion in faith and baptism finds its focus in the one eucharist. It is
a matter for continuing concern among all Christians that not all Chris-
tians share together in the Holy Communion. There are those who, out of
deep conviction, and on the basis of their common baptism, invite all
who believe in Christ to receive, believing that eucharistic sharing is both
a means of creating visible unity, and also its goal. Eucharistic hospitality
is offered and received by some churches to those who are baptised and in
good standing in their own churches. Others offer eucharistic hospitality
in very restricted circumstances. Among still other churches, eucharistic
communion is understood as the ultimate expression of agreement in faith
and of a communion in life. Such an understanding would make the
sharing of the Lord s Supper with those outside their own tradition an
anomaly. As a result, for some churches the practice of “eucharistic hospi-
tality” is the antithesis of the commitment to full visible unity. In spite of
the range of understandings and practices there is a growing willingness to
understand other positions and a shared longing to express baptismal com-
munion in eucharistic communion as part of a life in communion.

As regards the understanding and practise of the eucharist there re-
mains the question whether it is primarily a meal where Christians
receive the body and blood of Christ, or primarily a service of thanks -
giving.

Among those for whom the eucharist is primarily a service of thanksgiv-
ing, there is growing convergence concerning its sacrificial character.
Remaining disagreement centres principally on the questions of how the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary is made present in the eucharistic
act. A help in reconciling the different approaches has been made by the
use of biblical and patristic scholarship to probe more deeply into the
meaning

the concept has been made to bear more weight in theological and ecu-
menical texts than it is capable of bearing.

of the biblical term anamnesis. However, some maintain that

Life in Communion

Churches continue to disagree on the nature and mode of the presence
of Christ in the eucharist. Some important differences remain regard -
ing the role of the Holy Spirit in the whole eucharistic celebration.

D. Ministry

81. It is the vocation of the whole Church to be the servant of Gods
design. The Church is called at all times and in all places to serve the
world.

82. The Holy Spirit bestows gifts on every member of the Body of
Christ for the building up of the fellowship of the Church and for the
faithful fulfilling of the mission of Christ. All have received gifts and all
are responsible. This service is offered by the whole people of God
whether as individuals or as local communities or by the Church at
every level of its life.

83. As the communion of the baptised, the Church is a priesthood of
the whole people of God (1 Peter 2). Jesus Christ is the unique priest of
the new covenant (Heb 9:10). Christs life was given as a sacrifice for
all. Derivatively, the Church as a whole can be described as a priestly
body. All members are called to offer their being as a living sacrifice and
to intercede for the Church and for the world.

84. This is true for all members of the Church, who on the basis of
their common baptism, serve the world by proclaiming the Gospel,
testifying to their faith through their way of life, and interceding for the
salvation of the world. It is also part of their service to the world to feed
the hungry, help the poor and marginalized, correct injustice, and care
for the integrity of creation, together with all people of good will. In so
doing, they are in harmony with the mission of the Church.

85. From the earliest times there were those chosen by the commu-
nity under the guidance of the Spirit and given specific authority and
responsibility. Early in the history of the Church the need was felt for

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

an ordained ministry in the service of communion. Ordained ministers
serve in the building up of the community, in equipping the saints, and
in strengthening the Church’s witness in the world. They may not dis-
pense with the ongoing support and the encouragement of the com-
munity - on behalf of whom they are chosen, and for whom they act
with the power of the Holy Spirit as representative persons. Ordained
ministers have a special responsibility for the ministry of Word and
sacrament. They have a ministry of pastoral care and are leaders in mis-
sion. In all of those ways they strengthen the communion in faith, life
and witness of the whole people of God.

86. There is no single pattern of conferring ministry in the New
Testament. The Spirit has at different times led the Church to adapt
its ministries to contextual needs; various forms of the ordained min-
istry have been blessed with gifts of the Spirit. The threefold ministry
of bishop, presbyter and deacon was by the third century the gener-
ally accepted pattern and is still retained by many churches today,
though subsequently it underwent considerable changes in its practi-
cal exercise and is still changing in most churches today.

87. The chief responsibility of the ordained ministry is to assemble
and build up the Body of Christ by proclaiming and teaching the Word
of God, by celebrating baptism and the Lord’s Supper and by guiding
the life of the community in its worship and its mission. The whole
Church and every member, served by the ordained ministry, partici-
pates in the faithful communication of the Gospel. Essential to its tes-
timony are not merely its words, but the love of its members for one
another, the quality of its service to those in need, a just and disciplined
life and its fair distribution and exercise of power.

88. The primary manifestation of apostolic succession is to be found
in the apostolic tradition of the Church as a whole. In the course of
history, the Church has developed several means for the handing on of
apostolic truth through time, in different circumstances and cultural
contexts: the scriptural canon, dogma, liturgical order, structures wider
than the level of local communities. The ministry of the ordained is to

Life in Communion

serve in a specific way the apostolic continuity of the Church as a
whole. In this context, succession in ministry is a means of serving
the apostolic continuity of the Church. This is focused in the act of
ordination when the Church as a whole, through its ordained minis-
ters, takes part in the act of ordaining those chosen for the ministry of
the Word and sacrament.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Ministry

The location of the ministry of the ordained in} with , among or over the
people of God is disputed within and among the churches.

Although convergence has taken place through multilateral and bilat-
eral dialogues on the subject of ordained ministry there remain issues to
be explored further: eucharistic presidency; the representative nature of
ministry; the threefold ministry as a means to unity and an expression
of unity; the nature of ordination; the ordination of only men to a
ministry of word and sacrament.

There is disagreement regarding the main function of the ministry — presi-
dency of the eucharist, preaching of the word, or both on the same level.

There is disagreement about the understanding of the representative
nature of ordained ministry. For all, ministers represent the community
they are called to serve. They also agree that ministers in so far as they
proclaim the Word of God and administer the sacraments address the
community in the name of Christ. However, they disagree about whether
ordained ministers as such represent Christ.

The recognition that apostolicity and apostolic succession belong to the
whole Church is an important insight for re-examining the question of
apostolic continuity and its relation to ministerial continuity. (Already
this has helped to make possible the establishing of communion between
some churches). However, churches differ in what weight they give to
the different means of maintaining apostolic continuity. There are, for
example, clear differences in the churches understanding of what the
means of maintaining apostolic continuity are, how they are interre-
lated, to which degree they participate in the continuity promised to the
Church, how apostolic continuity depends upon them (cf Box I.A). A
reason for these differences lies in the way that the churches describe the
relationship between God's initiative and the response to it on the
human side.

Life in Communion

E. Oversight: Communal, Personal and Collegial

89. The Church as the body of Christ and the eschatological people
of God is built up by the Holy Spirit through a diversity of gifts or
ministries. Among these gifts a ministry of episkopS (oversight) serves to
express and promote the visible unity of the body. Every church needs
this ministry of unity in some form.

90. The diversity of Gods gifts to the Church calls for a ministry of
co-ordination so that they may enrich the whole Church, its unity and
mission. The gift of episkopeis for the service of the whole community.
It is for a faithful feeding of Christs flock, in accordance with Christs
command across the ages and in unity with Christians in different places.
Episkope \s a requirement of the whole Church and its faithful exercise
under the Gospel is of fundamental importance to its life and mission.
The ministry of episkope entails a mutual responsibility between those
who are entrusted with oversight and the whole apostolic community
of the Church. The responsibility of those called to exercise oversight
cannot be fulfilled without the collaboration, support and assent of the
whole community. At the same time the effective and faithful life of the
community is served by a set apart ministry of leadership in mission,
teaching and common life.

91. In the course of the first centuries, communion between local
congregations which had been maintained by a series of informal links
such as visits, letters, collections became more and more
institutionalised. Two main structures of episkope emerged: personal
episkopS and collegial episkope. The purpose was to hold the local con-
gregations in communion, to safeguard and hand on apostolic truth,
to give mutual support, to lead in witnessing to the Gospel. All these
functions are summed up in the term episkope.

92. The specific development of structures of episkope \ aried in dif-
ferent regions of the Church: this holds true both for the episkope of
synods and for episcopacy. The crystallization of most of the episcopal
functions in the hands of one individual ( episkopos ) was much later in

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

some places than others. What is evident in every case, is that episkopJ
and episcopacy are in the service of maintaining continuity in apostolic
truth and unity of life.

93. At the Reformation a pluriform pattern came into being as over-
sight came to be exercised in a variety of ways in the churches of the
Reformation. The Reformers sought to return to the apostolicity of the
Church which they considered to have been marred. Pursuing this end,
they saw themselves faced with the alternative of either staying within the
inherited church structures or remaining faithful to the apostolicity of
the Church, and thus accepted a break with the overall structure of the
Church, including the ministry of universal primacy. Nevertheless, they
continued to see the need for a ministry of episkopey which the churches
who went through Reformation ordered in different ways. There where
those who exercised episkope in synodal forms. Others kept or developed
ministries of personal episkope in various forms, according to circumstances
at times closer to, at times less close to, the former medieval patterns,
including for some the sign of historic episcopal succession.

Life in Communion

Episkope

Churches who exercise episkope primarily or even uniquely in synodal
form and churches for whom the office of bishop is central for the exer-
cise o/episkope are asked to recognize that there is a ministry ^/episkope
in both cases.

Churches which have preserved episcopal succession are challenged to
recognize both the faithful continuity with the apostolic faith as well as
the apostolic content of the ordained ministry which exists in churches
which have not maintained such succession and also the existence in
these churches of a ministry ofc piskope in various forms. Churches
without the episcopal succession, and living in faithful continuity with
the apostolic faith and mission, are asked to consider that the continuity
with the Church of the apostles can find expression in the successive
laying on of hands by bishops and that such a sign can serve that conti-
nuity itself (cfbox of I.A ( l )).

Because of the separation of the churches there is de facto no collegial
exercise of oversight. However, the ecumenical movement is increasingly
leading to a degree of shared oversight in many parts of the world. Should
the sharing of oversight be increased and in what ways might it be
increased ?

94. A ministry of oversight implies an ordering and differentiation
within the communion of the Church. Such an ordering {taxis) is called
to reflect the quality of ordering in the divine communion of Father,
Son and Holy Spirit. The Church is a communion of co-responsible
persons: no function, no gift, no charisma is exercised outside or above
this communion. All are related through the one Spirit in the one Body.
Such an ordering which reflects divine communion cannot imply domi-
nation or subordination.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

95. Those who exercise a ministry of episkopt are entrusted by the
Church with a specific exercise of the authority of Christ bestowed upon
the Church. There is no true authority in the Church which is not
empowered by the Holy Spirit for the right exercise. The model for the
exercise of all oversight in the Church is Christs own exercise of au-
thority, as exemplified by his washing the disciples feet, as well as Jesus’
words: “I am among you as one who serves” (Lk 22:25-27; Mk 20:25-
28; Mk 9:35; 10:42-35-45).

96. The interconnectedness of the life of the Church is maintained by
a ministry of episkope, exercised in communal, personal and collegial ways,
which sustains a life of interdependence. By synodality (communality)
we mean the “walking together” of all the churches; by collegiality, the
“communion” of all those who exercise oversight in them.

97. These dimensions of oversight find expression at the local, regional
and worldwide levels of the churches’ life. They serve the communion of
the Church maintaining its unity and diversity.

Life in Communion

Hierarchy

Some use the word “hierarchy” to express the taxis (order) within the
Church. Their use is based on a patristic understanding of the Holy
Trinity : the Father is named first as the fountainhead of all divinity,
then the Son as born from the Father and then the Holy Spirit, as the
one in whom God shines forth from all eternity. This hierarchy does not
imply the inferiority of one of the three in the Godhead which is the
perfection of communion — it is the prototype of relational life in which
there is no subordination or domination and in which unity and diver-
sity are perfectly held together. Such a view acknowledges the misuse of
hierarchy throughout history.

Others ask whether the term “hierarchy” does not imply an ontological
rather than a functional understanding of the difference between min-
isters and lay persons, questioning at the same time the comparisons of
relations between the ordained and lay with the inner Trinitarian rela-
tionships. They also reject the notion of an hierarchical ordering of min-
istry owing to the experience of hierarchy in an equivocal manner. In
the judgment of these churches, the abuse occasioned by hierarchical
structures throughout history consists primarily in the association of
patterns of domination and subordination as integral to the function-
ing of these structures.

Insofar as the charismata cannot be exercised apart from, or over, the
communion of co-responsible members, churches may wish to consider
afresh the appropriateness of the language of hierarchy in the descrip-
tion of the ordering of ministries within the Church.

(i) Communal (conciliar or synodal)

98. The communal (conciliar or synodal) life of the Church is
grounded in the sacrament of baptism. All the baptized share a respon-
sibility for the apostolic faith and witness of the whole Church. The

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

communal dimension of the Church’s life refers to the involvement of
the whole body of the faithful in common consultation, sometimes
through representation and constitutional structures, over the wellbeing
of the Church and their common involvement in the service of Gods
mission in the world. Communal life sustains all the baptized in a web
of belonging, of mutual accountability and support. It implies unity in
diversity and is expressed in one heart and one mind (Phil 2:1-2). It is
the way Christians are held in unity and travel together as the one Church
and the one Church is manifested in the life of each local church.

99. The unity and communion of the Church require a ministry of
discernment by the faithful. Discernment is served by the presence of
the sensus fidei in every member of the community. The sensus- a kind
of spiritual perception, sense, discernment (flair) - is the fruit of the
indwelling of the Holy Spirit by which baptised believers are enabled to
recognize what is, or is not, an authentic echo of the voice of Christ in
the teaching of the community; what is, or is not, in harmony with the
truth of the Gospel. The sensus fidelium - the expression of this sensus
fidei by all the members - is an essential element in the discernment,
reception and articulation of Christian faith.

100. All baptised members must take seriously their potential to exer-
cise the gifts they receive from the Holy Spirit - never for their own
sake alone, but for the life and mission of the whole community. All
must play their part in the discernment of truth, by attentiveness to
those with a special ministry of oversight and through the reception of
truth. In Acts 1 5 the outcome of the meeting of the apostles and elders,
occasioned by the problems of the local communities in their Gentile
and Palestinian contexts, was through the coming together of persons
chosen and appointed by the churches and “with the consent of the
whole church” (Acts 15:22). In the coming together is discerned a fore-
shadowing of the synodality (conciliarity) of the Church. The commu-
nal life of the Church involves the coming together in council to seek
and voice the mind of Christ for the Church in changing circumstances
and in the face of new challenges.

Life in Communion

(ii) Personal

101. Through the discernment of the community and under the
guidance of the Holy Spirit, God calls out persons for the exercise of
the ministry of oversight. Oversight is always to be exercised within
and in relation to the whole Church. The Spirit who empowers those
who are entrusted with oversight is the same Spirit who animates the
life of all believers. On account of this, those who exercise oversight
are inseparably bound to all believers. They should not be exalted
over the community but always act in the spirit of the one who came
not to be served but to serve.

102. Those who exercise oversight have a special duty to care for the
unity, holiness, catholicity and apostolicity of the Church. In discern-
ing vocations and in ordaining other ministries to share in the ministry
of Word and sacrament, they care for the continuity of the life of the
Church. In their special responsibility for maintaining the unity and
continuity of the Church, they exercise discipline.

103. Primacy, wherever it exists, is an expression of the “personal” mode
of ministry. It is a service of presidency to be exercised in a spirit of love
and truth. Primacy is inseparable from both the collegial and commu-
nal dimensions of the Church’s life. It strengthens the unity of the Church
and enables it to speak with one voice.

(iii) Collegial

104. In the New Testament, it is to groups of apostles as a whole that
Christ gives the commission to preach the Gospel and lead the Church.
By the gathering together of those who have been entrusted with the
oversight of the churches the concerns of one church are shared in the
wider fellowship, and the insights of the wider Church taken back to
the local church. Collegiality provides for mutual support and mutual
accountability.

105. Enabling the Church to live in conformity to the mission of Christ
is a continuous process involving the whole community, but within

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

that the gathering of those with oversight has a special role. Collegi-
ality refers to the corporate, representative exercise in the areas of
leadership, consultation, discernment, and decision-making. Colle-
gial ity entails the personal and relational nature of leadership and
authority. Collegiality is at work wherever those entrusted with over-
sight gather, discern, speak and act as one on behalf of the whole
Church. This entails leading the Church by means of the wisdom
gained by corporate prayer, study and reflection, drawing on Scrip-
ture, tradition and reason - the wisdom and experience of all Church
communities and of the contemporary world.

106. Sustaining collegiality involves preventing premature closure
of debate, ensuring that different voices are heard, listening to ex-
pert opinion and drawing on appropriate sources of scholarship.
Collegial oversight should help the Church to live in communion
while the mind of Christ is being discerned. It entails making room
for those of different opinions, guarding and preaching unity, even
calling for restraint while giving spiritual and moral leadership.
Speaking collegially does not necessarily mean agreement on every
subject. It may mean reflecting back to the community the legiti-
mate diversity that exists within the life of the Church at any given
time.

Life in Communion

Communal, Personal and Collegial

These three aspects need to be kept together. In various churches, one or
another has been overemphasized at the expense of the others. In some
churches, the personal dimension of the ordained ministry tends to di-
minish the collegial and communal dimensions. In other churches, the
collegial or communal dimension takes so much importance that the
ordained ministry loses its personal dimension. Each church needs to
ask itself in what way its exercise of the ordained ministry has suffered
in the course of history.

The language used to speak of the different dimensions of the ministry
of oversight differs between churches, even between theologians in the
same church and between ecumenical reports. This causes misunder-
standing in conducting the debate on the ministry of oversight. The
terms communal, conciliar and synodal describe the ongoing life of the
whole Church and not merely particular structures and processes which
serve its ongoing life.

F. Conciliarity (Communality, Synodality) and Primacy

107. Conciliarity is an essential feature of the life of the Church,
grounded in the common baptism of its members (cf. 1 Peter 2). Under
the guidance of the Holy Spirit, the whole Church, whether dispersed
or gathered together, is conciliar. Thus conciliarity is present at all levels
of the life of the Church. Conciliarity is already present in the relations
which exist among the members of the smallest local communities: the
relations of persons according to Gal 3:28 - “all one in Christ Jesus”,
excluding all divisions all forms of discrimination, domination and sub-
mission. In the local eucharistic community, conciliarity is the profound
unity in love and truth between the members among themselves and
with their presiding minister.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

108. The interconnectedness of the life of the Church is expressed at
the different levels of the Church’s life, the “all in each place” linked to
the “all in every place”. A life of interdependence is sustained by a min-
istry in the service of unity. This ministry is exercised in communal,
personal and collegial ways.

109. Wherever people, local communities or regional churches come
together to take counsel and make important decisions, there is need
for someone to summon and preside over the gathering for the sake of
good order and to help the process of promoting, discerning and ar-
ticulating consensus. Synods and councils of all times and in all churches
demonstrate this clearly. The one who presides is always to be at the
service of those among whom he/she presides for the edification of the
Church of God, in love and truth. It is the duty of the president to
respect the integrity of local churches, to give voice to the voiceless and
to uphold unity in diversity.

110. In crucial situations synods came and come together, to discern
the apostolic truth over against particular threats and dangers to the life
of the Church. Their decisions were then often (though not always)
recognized as the true expression of the apostolic faith. The ongoing
process of reception in the life of the Church under the guidance of the
Holy Spirit discerns the truth, or otherwise, of a conciliar decision.

Life in Communion

Conciliarity and Primacy

There is still much work to be done to arrive at something like a consen-
sus between those who do not believe that conciliarity or primacy at a
world level are necessary and those who believe that full communion
cannot exist without this link among all the local eucharistic communi-
ties. The lack of agreement is not simply between certain families of
churches but exists within some churches. The way forward involves
coming to a consensus both within each church and among the churches.

Most churches accept that a eucharist needs a president. Amongst these ,
there are some who would go on to say that it follows that a gathering of
eucharistic communities at regional and world level similarly need a
president, in the service of communion. In this perspective conciliarity
implies primacy and primacy involves conciliarity.

There remain questions both within and among churches about the
precise functions of a presiding minister.

Service In and For the World

111. One of the convictions which governs this whole document is
that the Church is not an end in itself; it is Gods gift to the world.
Service belongs to the very being of the Church. Therefore, the Church
of God exists only in relation to the common destiny of humanity and
all creation.

112. The Church is the community of people called by God who,
through the Holy Spirit, are united with Jesus Christ and sent as dis-
ciples to bear witness to Gods reconciliation, healing and transforma-
tion of creation. The Church’s relation to Christ entails that faith and
community require discipleship in the sense of moral commitment.
The integrity of the mission of the Church, therefore, is at stake in
witness through proclamation and in concrete actions for justice, peace
and integrity of creation. The latter will often be undertaken with those
outside the community of faith. This is a defining mark of koinonia
central for our understanding of the Church.

113. Christian discipleship is based on the life and teaching of Jesus of
Nazareth testified to in Scripture. Christians are called to discipleship
in response to the living Word of God by obeying God rather than
human beings, repenting of sinful actions, forgiving others, and living
sacrifical lives of service. The source of their passion for the transforma-
tion of the world lies in their communion with God in Jesus Christ.
They believe that God, who is absolute love, mercy and justice, is work-
ing through them by the Holy Spirit. The Christian community always
lives within the sphere of divine forgiveness and grace.

114. This grace calls forth and shapes the moral life of believers. Mem-
bers of the Church rely on God’s forgiveness and renewing grace in
their faithfulness and infidelity, in their virtue and their sin. The Church
does not rest on moral achievement but on justification, by grace through
faith. It is on this basis that moral engagement, common action and
reflection can be affirmed as intrinsic to the life and being of the Church.

Service In and For the World

115. For its part, Christian ethics relates both to the Church and to
the world. It is rooted in God and shaped by the community. As such,
it does not stand in isolation from the moral struggles of humankind.
Christian ethics can be defined fully only in relation to both Church
and world on the basis of the nature of the Church itself. Thus, com-
plex ethical questions need serious consideration within the Church
and are themselves the subject of Christian discipleship.

116. There are occasions when ethical issues challenge the integrity of
the Christian community itself and make it necessary to take a corpo-
rate stance to preserve its authenticity and credibility. Koinonia in rela-
tion to ethics and morals means that it is in the Church that, along with
the confession of the faith and the celebration of the sacraments (and as
an inseparable part of these), the Gospel tradition is probed constantly
for moral inspiration and insight. Situations where Christians or churches
do not agree on an ethical position demand that dialogue continue in
an effort to discover whether such differences can ultimately be over-
come and, if not, whether they are truly church-dividing.

117. Christians and their communities are called to be accountable to
each other with respect to their ethical reflections and decisions owing
to the fact of their koinonia through faith, baptism and the Lords Sup-
per. This interconnectedness is manifested in their commitment to the
reciprocal partnership of giving and receiving (Phil 4: 1 5). As churches
engage in mutual questioning and affirmation, they give expression to
their real, but not fully realized, koinonia. Christians engage together in
service to the world, glorifying and praising God and seeking that full
koinonia where the life that God desires for all people and the whole
creation will find fulfilment.

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

Faith and Ethics

The relation between faith and ethics has been seen differently during
the course of Christian history. For some , the question of service to the
world is an integral part of the proclamation and living of the apostolic
faith itself Others distinguish between the specifically Christian ethics
(i.e. the sermon on the Mount) and the ethical code given to all human
beings in which Christians also participate insofar as they are a part of
humanity. For those holding the latter position, this distinction has been
considered as liberating in that it enables Christians to join with others
of goodwill in addressing issues of society. Yet, also in this latter group,
ethical stances can be viewed to have such serious implications that they
require a declaration 0/status confessionis.

One feature of the contemporary ecumenical situation is the frequency
with which moral stances have become potentially church-dividing, both
within and between churches. An increasing range of issues, including
those of human sexuality, have polarized Christian communities and risk
damaging or destroying the bonds d/koinonia already existing. The closer
churches come to an agreement on ecclesiology, the more they are chal-
lenged to address the tolerable limits of moral diversity compatible with
koinonia. Continual ecumenical dialogue, discernment, accountability
and Christian charity are required to that end.

VI. Following Our Calling: From Converging

Understandings to Mutual Recognition

118. In recent years the ecumenical movement has produced many
agreed statements recording converging understandings about the faith
and older of the C hureh . T he m ostw ell know n of these Is Baptism ,
Eucharist and Ministry, the work of the Faith and Order Commission.
These converging understandings have challenged the churches to ac-
cept into their life the implications of their common affirmations.
Significant proposals for steps towards greater expressions of visible unity
have been enacted or are awaiting decision by the churches in virtually
every part of the world. This ecumenical fact deserves affirmation.

119. Progress has shown itself concretely in the ways by which
churches, according to various criteria and to varying degrees, have
engaged in processes of reception and thus have advanced towards
mutual recognition, or at least towards the recognition of Christian
faith and life beyond their preconceived boundaries as they formally
understand them to be. Some have even reached a stage of mutual
recognition.

120. However, partly in response to these converging understandings
there are also examples of non-reception where it has not been possible
to move towards recognition. A significant symptom of this is a re-
trenchment often expressed in a re-confessional ism of an anti-ecumenical
spirit. There are also examples of non-reception which are either the
result of deeply held theological convictions or of the shortcomings of
the ecumenical work itself. The churches, at all levels of their life, are all
called upon to engage in the task of understanding and articulating
together a common understanding of Christian identity and change,
the dynamic character and the pilgrim character of the people of God.

121. The relationship between the reception of the results of theo-
logical convergence into changed lives and mutual recognition was

The Nature and Purpose of the Church

acknowledged in The Canberra Statement - “The Church as Koinonia :
Gift and Calling”, when it declared: “The goal of the search for full
communion is realized when all the churches are able to recognize in
one another the one, holy , catholic and apostolic church in its fullness”
and express this in a reconciled common life.

122. Building on the convergence of earlier work, this present docu-
ment is a preliminary attempt to express what the churches might now
claim together about the nature and purpose of the Church, and within
that perspective to state the remaining areas of difficulty and disagree-
ment. It is our belief that if the churches are able to agree together a
convergence statement on the nature and purpose of the Church, this
would provide a major instrument in furthering the process of mutual
recognition on the way to reconciliation.

123. Acknowledging that this present draft is only the beginning of a
process in formulating a common statement on the Church, the Faith
and Order Commission invites churches, commissions, theological in-
stitutes and ecumenical councils to reflect on the text in the light of the
following questions (cf. also para. 7 above):

° how far can you recognize in this text an emerging convergence on
the nature and purpose of the Church?

° what areas in particular do you consider need further work and
what insights can you offer to progress that work?

° what other areas need to be treated in a convergence document on
the nature and purpose of the Church?

Responses to these questions will be essential as the Faith and Order
Commission seeks in the years ahead to prepare a more mature com-
mon statement on the nature and purpose of the Church.

Following Our Calling

124. It will be necessary to take these questions into serious consider-
ation if we are to facilitate the movement from common affirmation
concerning the Church, through an increasingly agreed understanding
of these affirmations, to an even greater recognition of ecclesial reality
in other communities than our own, and finally to the need and possi-
bility of establishing, full, visible communion.

125. Churches will require time and creativity for reception and mu-
tual recognition. There will need to be the acceptance that, in moving
by steps and stages, developments will occur which may appear incon-
sistent to other churches. Yet, if the churches accept to proceed along
this way, they will be a sign and a gift, in and for a fractured world, of
that koinonia v/hich was Gods intention for the whole of humanity
from the beginning of time - a koinonia which through the life, death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ is already a reality among us, and a
guarantee of that which God will fully realize at the end of history.

World Council of Churches

Commission on Faith and Order
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The Nature and Purpose of the Church

A stage on the way to a common statement

The main purpose of this study is to g rue expression
to what the churches can now say together about the
nature and purpose of the Church and , w ith m the
p ersp ectiu e of th a t ag ree rn en t
a reas of d is. ag ree rn en t.

to state the remaining

Faith and Order

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Full text of "The Nature and Purpose of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper No. 181, Geneva, WCC"

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